The once-thriving textile and garment sector in Ethiopia’s Tigray region, which served as a major economic backbone, has been severely devastated by the conflict in northern Ethiopia over the past two years. While the physical destruction and supply chain disruptions have been widely reported, a new study reveals that the greatest challenge facing investors and businesses attempting to rebuild is a chronic lack of capital.
The study, titled “Rebuilding Tigray’s Textile and Garment Industry: The Role of Vocational Skills Development,” documents extensive financial losses and infrastructural damage across the region’s industries. It reports that approximately 60 factories and over 6,300 small and medium-sized enterprises were destroyed during the war.
One prominent example is the Almeda Textile Factory, which before the war employed 5,300 permanent workers. Post-conflict, it has restarted operations but with a drastically reduced workforce of 1,800. Gebretsadik Gebru, a lead researcher on the study, shared with Capital that the factory’s monthly revenue plummeted from 70 million birr pre-war to just 5.5 million birr in 2024. Their production equipment and raw materials were entirely looted or destroyed, compounding recovery efforts.
The study, based on interviews with industry leaders, identifies financial constraints as the primary obstacle to business revival. The Almeda factory’s manager noted that out of 51 vehicles previously owned in Mekele, only one remains functional—the rest were damaged or stolen—forcing the company to rent transport at additional cost. Read more…